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August 26, 2008

G131: Red Sox 7, Yankees 3

Wakefield (5-8-3-1-1, 80) fluttered through five innings before Terry Francona used five bullpen arms to get through the last four innings. The quintet of Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon put up a 4-2-0-2-5 line. The lineup presented a balanced attack, as everyone either got a hit or scored a run.

Pettitte walked two batters in the first, but escaped harm. After getting two outs in the second, he allowed a couple of infield hits to third and an RBI single from Jacoby Ellsbury that tied the game at 1-1. After New York got a run with a two-out rally of its own, the Red Sox started the third with three hits: doubles from David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis, and a single from Jason Bay. Red Sox 3-2.

With two gone in the fifth, Boston scored three times on four straight singles (Bay, Jed Lowrie, Coco Crisp, and Jeff Bailey). Bailey's hit was a high chopper to Alex Rodriguez at third. Slappy's hurried throw to first was low and Jason Giambi could not scoop it. Lowrie scored easily from third -- and then Crisp scored, racing around third and sliding in without a throw! That ended Pettitte's night: 4.2-10-6-3-3, 101.

The bottom of the order shined as Crisp singled three times and stole a base, and both Bailey and Kevin Cash singled twice. In addition to his double, Yook walked three times. And Bay, batting after him, singled twice and hit a sac fly. Ortiz doubled twice and walked twice.

A-Rod (0-for-5) had a rough evening. He struck out looking to end the first, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the third, flew out to center in the fifth, grounded into a 6U-3 double play (as the potential tying run) to end the seventh, and struck out swinging to end the game. He also made a throwing error. The boos were long and loud all night (even when he fielded ground balls cleanly).

If this keeps up -- and why shouldn't it? -- things are going to be pretty ugly in the Bronx by Thursday.

Wakefield comes off the disabled list and makes his first start since August 6. In his last 13 starts (back to May 28) before he went on the DL, he had a 2.66 ERA in 88 innings, limiting opponents to a .194 batting average. In his last six starts against New York, Wakefield is 0-5 with a 8.91 ERA. Chris Smith will likely be sent down to make room on the roster for Wakefield.

New York is pretty well buried anyway.

Cool Standings (after simulating the rest of the season one million times and factoring in strength of schedule):

If the Red Sox (75-55) play .500 ball over their final 32 games, they would finish the season with 91 victories. At 70-60, the Yankees would then have to go 21-11 to force a tie with Boston, playing 10 games over .500 during the final five weeks. To put that in perspective, the Yankees are only 10 over during the first 130 games, presenting a daunting task, to say the least.

Pettitte:

I feel like it's a must-win series. I don't think we necessarily need to sweep them, but we need to win the series.

NYP:

What Yankees fans have conveniently forgotten is the Red Sox are not the only other team in the AL wild-card hunt. ... Five games back [in the wild card] with 32 left means the Yankees have to sweep three from the Red Sox, then negotiate a brutal schedule across the final 29 games that ends with three games at Fenway Park.

Let's see if the Yankees can hit against a real team the way they did against the Orioles in Baltimore. ... And, while we're at it, let's see how much game Alex Rodriguez will bring to his first playoff run since he signed for the $300 million. If he really is going to be the kind of big Yankee he desperately wants to be, now would be a good time to start. ...

Let's see A-Rod do it to the Red Sox the way Manny and Ortiz did it to the Yankees for years. It's not just on him, of course. But he said how much he wanted games like these, much more than he did all the money. Here they are.

If J.D. Drew cannot play tonight, he may be put on the disabled list. ... Clay Buchholz pitched for Portland last night: 7-5-4(3ER)-0-8.

***

For me, Sunday's 11th-inning win over the Blue Jays was the first butterfly-inducing, sweaty-palmed must-win game of the summer. A loss would have been very tough to handle. It could have dropped us 6.5 GB the FKR -- though they ended up losing to the White Sox.

804 comments:

The MFY aren't dead. hopefully after this series they will be.I'll be at this game.when coco comes up to bat (assuming he's in the lineup) i hope he adds to that score of his.I hope it is written here about laser shows and sweaty dongs.

Would've been interesting to have been able to see Yankee Stadium, but jeez, I haven't even seen a game at Fenway yet. I'm sure I'll visit the new Yankee Stadium at some point. Baseball road trip would be fantastic.

ish, I've been to Yankee Stadium. You ain't missing much, believe me. If you want history in New York, go to the MoMA.

This is the start of the most crucial stretch of the season - the Sox can leave the Yankees in brutal trouble if not totally out of the race, pick up some ground on the Rays, and gain ground in the WC race. Let's go Sox!

NESN right now is showing the green shirts game last year, April 20th, against the Yankees with Coco's game-tying triple off Rivera, Cora's go-ahead single, and Okajima's first save, introducing himself to MLB.

Klapsich at ESPN (apparently back from a health problem) borked up the percentages of the Yankees' chance for a playoff berth in his article today. I had to register to leave a comment correcting him, though I almost never bother with that sort of thing.

While I was at it, I responded to the Yankee fan commenter who said that coolstandings.com doesn't apply to the Yankees because of their late-season success lo these 13 years. Take a look if you feel like slogging through the bs; my comment is #40.

NESN right now is showing the green shirts game last year, April 20th, against the Yankees with Coco's game-tying triple off Rivera, Cora's go-ahead single, and Okajima's first save, introducing himself to MLB.

That series was great! Three close games, Chase Wright's claim to fame, Rivera blowing a save, Einstein with a game winner... it's as good as you can expect from an April series.

Interesting, the things you learn about when you've been in an accident. I got an ambulance bill today... I was transported to the hospital via ambulance... Just sat in the seat, they didn't do anything to me - focused on my mother mostly. Three miles to the hospital... I was billed $489 just for the ride in the ambulance because technically I was a patient.

Luckily I won't have to worry about paying it. But holy fucking shit balls. Big numbers.

• Reliever Chris Smith was sent to Pawtucket to make a spot for tonight's starter, Tim Wakefield, to come off the disabled list.

• Outfielder Joe Thurston (.314 10 homers, 62 RBIs with Triple-A Pawtucket this season) is here but has not been activated. He would likely get added to the roster if the Red Sox put J.D. Drew (missed the last six games with a back injury) on the DL. A decision has not yet been made on Drew, who went to a spine specialist this morning in New York.

• First baseman Sean Casey is actually able to play today, saying his stiff neck is better. However, Jeff Bailey will get the start at first base tonight.

Also, Ish, make sure you fight any bill that doesn't seem right. Emergency rooms, hospitals and ambulance services are notorious for billing erroneously, on the hopes that if people won't know any better and will just pay them.

When Allan was taken to the ER in an ambulance, and I was with him, we got a huge bill for both ambulance and ER. But according to our insurance, we were only supposed to be billed a $25 copay.

The health insurance fiasco always hits me right between the eyes when we pay vet bills, especially for emergency care. That little adventure with Luna cost us close to $700. Some pet owners would not have been able to pay for that care, and their pets would suffer or die.

Then I think of people in need of HUMAN medical care who get bills like Ish did and much, much worse. How do they ever pay? Unimaginable.

Hey, would it be that hard for MLB to hire one person to watch each game and just fucking type out exactly what happened on each play? It could be a sidebar that you check in on when you're confused about their crazy notations and shit.

Cat is doing SO much better the last couple of days, although still very weak. That should improve as she gets back to some activity instead of just lying in a hospital bed, but the doctors say realistically she will have a lower threshhold for activity going forward. The lungs will probably not fully recover.We can live with that I guess.

This is why I'll always hate the fucking Yankees. Sosock, here's what you're missing. The Yanks are upset about borderline calls. So Pettitte has the catcher come out to the mound. THen Girardi comes out. Then the next pitch comes to Ellsbury, and it's a foot outside, but the ump, having been given the "message," calls strike three.